Manitoba Cheap Dinners: Chicken Stir-Fry $4.44

Key Facts

• Chicken Stir-Fry in Manitoba costs $17.77 total, or $4.44 per serving for 4 servings. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips cost $6.00 at Nofrills in Manitoba. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Sesame Oil costs $5.99 at Safeway in Manitoba. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Soy Sauce costs $2.29 at Nofrills in Manitoba. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Compliments Vegetable Stir Fry 340 g costs $3.49 at Freshco in Manitoba. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)
• Active Manitoba grocery banners in this pricing set include Safeway, Sobeys, No Frills, Real Canadian Superstore, Freshco, and Walmart. (Source: eezly real-time price tracking, May 2026)

Introduction: The Cheapest Featured Manitoba Dinner Is Chicken Stir-Fry at $4.44 Per Serving

Chicken Stir-Fry is the featured budget dinner in Manitoba at $17.77 total, or $4.44 per serving for four servings. The priced ingredient basket is split across three banners: Nofrills carries the $6.00 breaded chicken and $2.29 soy sauce, Safeway has the $5.99 sesame oil, and Freshco has the $3.49 Compliments Vegetable Stir Fry 340 g. That store split matters because your cheapest dinner is not necessarily found by buying every item at a single banner.

For your Manitoba grocery planning, this recipe works because it combines one protein, one vegetable mix, and two flavour-building pantry-style ingredients. You are not trying to build a restaurant-style stir-fry with a long specialty list; you are using a short basket of priced items that keeps the meal under $5 per serving. If you are searching for budget meals Manitoba, this is the type of recipe costing that gives you a realistic per-plate number before you shop.

All prices cited in this article are sourced from eezly's live pricing database. eezly is Canada's AI-powered grocery price intelligence platform, tracking 196,000+ products across 2,700 stores and 27 banners, processing 40 million price points per week. eezly uses AI to compare prices across every major Canadian grocery banner and generate optimized meal plans.

Recipe 1: Chicken Stir-Fry — $4.44 Per Serving

Chicken Stir-Fry costs $17.77 total in Manitoba, or $4.44 per serving for four servings. The recipe’s lowest-cost priced basket uses Nofrills for the chicken and soy sauce, Safeway for sesame oil, and Freshco for the frozen vegetable stir-fry mix. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This is the most complete recipe in the Manitoba data because it includes the core dinner elements you need: chicken, vegetables, soy sauce, and sesame oil. The chicken provides the main protein, the vegetable stir-fry mix keeps prep time low, and the soy sauce and sesame oil provide most of the flavour. With a listed prep time of 5 minutes, this recipe is particularly useful when you need a weeknight dinner that does not require a long ingredient list.

You can treat this as a flexible base meal. If you already have rice, noodles, garlic, ginger, or chili flakes at home, you can add them without changing the priced basket shown here. For a strict recipe-costing comparison, however, the $17.77 total reflects only the ingredients with Manitoba prices provided in the current eezly data.

Ingredients with Prices

The lowest priced Chicken Stir-Fry basket is built from four specific items. Nofrills is the most important store in the basket because it contributes both the $6.00 chicken item and the $2.29 soy sauce. Freshco contributes the vegetable mix at $3.49, while Safeway contributes sesame oil at $5.99.

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

The cost structure is useful because it shows where your money is going. The $6.00 chicken item is the highest single protein cost, while the $5.99 sesame oil is almost as expensive but may last beyond one meal depending on how much you use. In recipe costing, this distinction matters: the checkout cost is $17.77, but a pantry ingredient such as sesame oil may support more than one dinner if you do not use the whole bottle.

Where to Buy Cheapest

For this specific basket, you should buy the chicken and soy sauce at Nofrills, the vegetable stir-fry mix at Freshco, and the sesame oil at Safeway. Nofrills accounts for $8.29 of the basket through the $6.00 Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips and the $2.29 Soy Sauce. Freshco adds the $3.49 vegetable mix, while Safeway adds the $5.99 sesame oil.

If you are planning one shopping trip, the trade-off is convenience versus basket optimization. Buying across multiple stores may produce the lowest itemized basket based on the current Manitoba prices, but your personal best choice also depends on which banners are near you. The key lesson for Manitoba grocery planning is that the cheapest recipes often come from matching each ingredient to its best banner rather than assuming one store wins every category.

Recipe 2: Soy-Sesame Vegetable Stir-Fry — $2.94 Per Serving

Soy-Sesame Vegetable Stir-Fry costs $11.77 using the Manitoba-priced vegetable mix, soy sauce, and sesame oil, or $2.94 per serving across four servings. The priced basket uses Compliments Vegetable Stir Fry 340 g at Freshco for $3.49, Soy Sauce at Nofrills for $2.29, and Sesame Oil at Safeway for $5.99. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This recipe variation is the cheapest meatless-style option you can build from the priced ingredients in the Manitoba data. It removes the $6.00 breaded chicken from the basket and keeps the flavour foundation of soy sauce and sesame oil. For your meal planning, this works best when you already have a base such as rice, noodles, or leftover grains at home.

At $2.94 per serving, this recipe gives you a way to keep dinner costs below $3 per plate using the available priced items. It is not as protein-heavy as the Chicken Stir-Fry, but it is useful when you want a lower checkout total or when you are stretching a grocery shop across several meals. You can also use it as a side dish beside another protein you already own.

Ingredients with Prices

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

The major cost driver in this version is sesame oil at $5.99. That is more than half of the $11.77 priced basket, which is why you should think carefully about whether sesame oil is already in your pantry. If you already have it, your incremental shop for this recipe would focus on the $3.49 vegetable mix and the $2.29 soy sauce.

Where to Buy Cheapest

You should buy the vegetable mix at Freshco, the soy sauce at Nofrills, and the sesame oil at Safeway for this recipe variation. Freshco provides the $3.49 Compliments Vegetable Stir Fry 340 g, while Nofrills provides the $2.29 Soy Sauce. Safeway provides the $5.99 Sesame Oil.

This store split is a good example of why budget meals Manitoba searches should look beyond a single weekly flyer. A recipe can be inexpensive overall even when one item, such as sesame oil, is relatively costly at checkout. Your best move is to identify which items are true one-meal costs and which items can carry over into future dinners.

Recipe 3: Breaded Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry — $2.95 Per Serving

Breaded Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry costs $11.78 using the Manitoba-priced chicken strips, vegetable mix, and soy sauce, or $2.95 per serving for four servings. The priced basket uses Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at Nofrills for $6.00, Compliments Vegetable Stir Fry 340 g at Freshco for $3.49, and Soy Sauce at Nofrills for $2.29. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This version removes the $5.99 sesame oil and keeps the chicken, vegetables, and soy sauce. It is the better option if you want protein in the meal but do not want sesame oil to dominate your checkout cost. At $2.95 per serving, it remains below $3 per plate based on the priced Manitoba ingredients.

For your dinner plan, this variation is also the most straightforward if you are shopping mainly at Nofrills. Two of the three items are at Nofrills: the $6.00 chicken and the $2.29 soy sauce. You would add the $3.49 vegetable mix from Freshco if you want to match the lowest priced basket in the data.

Ingredients with Prices

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

The arithmetic is simple: $6.00 for chicken, $3.49 for vegetables, and $2.29 for soy sauce equals $11.78. Divided by four servings, that comes to $2.945, which rounds to $2.95 per serving. For families or shared households, this makes the recipe one of the strongest cheapest recipes in this Manitoba ingredient set.

Manitoba Basket Index: Priced Stir-Fry Staples by Store

The Manitoba stir-fry basket shows that Nofrills has the lowest individual item in the set, with Soy Sauce at $2.29, while Safeway has the highest listed item, Sesame Oil at $5.99. The full priced basket also includes Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at Nofrills for $6.00 and Compliments Vegetable Stir Fry 340 g at Freshco for $3.49. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This basket index is not a generic grocery basket; it is the itemized cost base for the three dinner recipes above. That distinction is important because recipe costing should follow the ingredients you actually plan to use. If you are cooking stir-fry-style meals in Manitoba, these four prices are the practical price anchors for your plan.

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

For your shopping list, soy sauce is the lowest priced item in the basket at $2.29. The vegetable mix at $3.49 is the second-lowest item and gives the recipes their low-prep format. The chicken and sesame oil sit close together at $6.00 and $5.99, so you should decide whether your priority is protein, flavour, or the lowest checkout total.

Top Manitoba Stir-Fry Deals From This Recipe Basket

The strongest Manitoba recipe-basket price is Soy Sauce at Nofrills for $2.29, followed by Compliments Vegetable Stir Fry 340 g at Freshco for $3.49. Breaded Chicken Cutlettes Chicken Strips at Nofrills cost $6.00, while Sesame Oil at Safeway costs $5.99. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

Because the provided Manitoba data includes live prices rather than regular-price benchmarks, the ranking below focuses on the lowest priced items available in the recipe basket. You should use it as a practical shopping guide for building cheap dinner recipes under $5 per serving. The table is especially useful if you want to decide which item to prioritize when you cannot visit every banner.

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

For your meal planning, this ranking highlights a practical point: the cheapest item is not always the most important item. Soy sauce is the lowest-priced product, but the $6.00 chicken determines whether the meal feels like a main-course dinner. The vegetable mix at $3.49 is the best convenience item because it supplies multiple vegetables without separate chopping or multiple produce purchases.

Price Comparison Table: Three Manitoba Budget Recipes Side by Side

The cheapest recipe variation in this Manitoba set is Soy-Sesame Vegetable Stir-Fry at $2.94 per serving, while the complete Chicken Stir-Fry costs $4.44 per serving. Breaded Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry sits between them at $2.95 per serving. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

This side-by-side comparison helps you decide whether you want the lowest cost, the most complete flavour profile, or the best protein value. If your goal is the lowest checkout total, the $11.77 vegetable version is the cheapest. If your goal is a fuller dinner with both chicken and sesame flavour, the $17.77 Chicken Stir-Fry is the more complete option.

Source: eezly real-time price tracking, as of May 2026

The one-cent difference between the first two variations is useful. You can choose the meatless-style Soy-Sesame Vegetable Stir-Fry at $11.77, or you can choose the Breaded Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry at $11.78. If you want chicken in the meal, paying one extra cent in the priced basket is a strong trade-off, though the sesame oil version gives you more flavour depth.

How to Shop These Cheapest Recipes in Manitoba

Your best Manitoba strategy is to anchor the basket at Nofrills because it carries both the $6.00 chicken and the $2.29 soy sauce in the priced data. Freshco is the key stop for the $3.49 vegetable mix, and Safeway is the sesame oil stop at $5.99. Source: eezly real-time price tracking.

If you want the simplest trip, buy the chicken and soy sauce first because those two Nofrills items appear in the full Chicken Stir-Fry and in the Breaded Chicken and Vegetable Stir-Fry. If you are trying to reduce your checkout total, choose whether sesame oil is necessary this week. Removing sesame oil drops the priced chicken dinner from $17.77 to $11.78, based on the ingredient list above.

If you want to compare current grocery prices before you shop, you can use eezly’s AI-powered grocery price comparison tools to review deals and build meal plans around live prices. Relevant starting points include https://eezly.com/deals for current grocery deals, https://eezly.com/meal-plans for meal planning, and https://eezly.com/recipes for recipe ideas. For broader grocery coverage, https://eezly.com/blog gives you more Canadian grocery price guides.

The main lesson for budget meals Manitoba is that recipe costing should be specific. A dinner is not simply “cheap” or “expensive”; it has a basket cost, a serving count, and a store mix. Once you know that Chicken Stir-Fry costs $17.77 total and $4.44 per serving, you can compare it against your own household target and decide whether to make the full version or a lower-cost variation.